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On April 4, voters in Tulsa Public School District 1 will choose between current school board president Stacey Woolley and challenger Jared Baswell. We sat down with both candidates to talk about the school board, their priorities, and their perspectives.
When I interviewed Woolley, she talked about the role of school boards, managing chaos, and how she views her work in light of state superintendent Ryan Walters’ flagrant rhetoric.
For election details and to see if you live in Tulsa Public School District 1, visit the Oklahoma Voter Portal.
Max Bryan (host): What made you want to run for the Board of Education again?
Stacey Woolley: We have done a lot of good work and have made a lot of changes as a school board. In terms of how meetings are run and superintendent accountability, we have changed to a governance team focused on student outcomes. also means I feel like I still have a lot of work to do to improve it and get it where I want it to be.
MB: What I’ve heard from the community is that they may not have seen it, what’s your reaction to that?
SW: Being on a governance board is very different from what a school board does and what people believe. The school board’s responsibility is to ensure that our finances are properly spent to get the results we want. And that’s really part of the work we’re doing to become student outcome-focused governance. It’s about making sure that we tie all our finances to the goals that come to mind when we visit our communities. years ago. Our goal is to spend half of each month talking about data related to these outcomes so that we can actually see improvements towards those goals. There is also.
MB: What are your goals for next semester?
SW: My goal is aligned with the strategic plan we have in place to get more students reading at the right level. We have still seen and will continue to see the effects from the pandemic in terms of how hard it is to staff and how hard it is to keep teachers. We as a state don’t pay our teachers enough and we don’t respect them at the state level. It will be a challenge. So one thing we absolutely have to do is figure out how to keep teachers.
MB: What is the current position of the Tulsa Public Schools Board of Education?
SW: i’m so excited. Today, we are again made up of her board of seven people and have done a lot of work to become a student achievement focused governance team. And I believe we will get back on track with the work associated with doing that.
MB: How do you plan to keep the board on track and keep everyone focused on what they want to achieve?
SW: Last Monday we all observed a very different looking board. And I am very excited to see what that means for our future.
MB: Why couldn’t I manage chaos on the board the way I wanted?
SW: Frankly, there’s a culture war going on and it’s being brought into our boardroom. And it’s especially difficult when you have policies and regulations and expectations, but if people don’t actually follow those policies, it really doesn’t matter. There are committees and we all have different opinions on how to get to where we need to go with those students. Sometimes I see some pretty strong disagreements. Board meetings can sometimes seem chaotic, but I think we still have real conversations. We all know each one is on board for our students.
MB: If Ryan Walters continues to manage TPS the way it’s always been, do you have any concerns about pursuing TPS more than ever?
SW: We are one of two city districts in this state. This means that our children have different needs. This means that we have a lot of diversity and have different thoughts and ideas. Frankly, it has become an easy target for propaganda. When the superintendent of a school in Oklahoma said some particularly ugly things about some students, especially his 2SLGBTQIA community, my job was to make sure those students were safe and respectful of who they were. It’s about making sure you continue to feel loved and cared for.
MB: Stacey, thank you for coming to this interview.
SW: Thank you for having me.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
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